OUR STORE IS CLOSED ON ANZAC DAY: THURSDAY 25 APRIL
Born in London in 1972, Darren O'Shaughnessy [ writing as Darren Shan] moved to Limerick with his parents and younger brother. Darren returned to London to study Sociology and English then worked for a TV cable company. His first adult novel Ayumarca has been published by Orion and his writing has been likened to Clive Barker and Iain Banks. He is now a full-time writer of TV scripts and novels. The Trials of Darren Shan is his fifth title for children.
It's time for the Trials at Vampire Mountain, in this fifth book in the Saga of Darren Shan. Half-vampire Darren Shan must complete the Trials successfully to prove his worth and clear the name of his mentor, Mr Crepsley. Things don't look hopeful. The Trials themselves have claimed many Vampires and the penalty for non-completion is death. The Trials are horribly imaginative - witness the Aquatic Maze, which fills with water while Darren searches for a way out, lugging a huge rock behind him. The Path of Needles, the Hall of Flames and the Blooded Boars make for nail-biting reading too. The rest and training days between the Trials allow us to catch up with Mr Crepsley and the other vampires introduced in book 4, and to follow the talk of a deadly battle between the Vampires and their murderous cousins, the Vampaneze. The story takes a sudden turn in another direction at the end, and the plot gets back on track. Trials of Death is the second book in a three-part adventure in the Saga of Darren Shan, and therefore readers have to wait for the following novel (Vampire Prince) for the story to come to fruition. The trials are vividly conjured and the emphasis on action makes the book appealing for reluctant readers. (Kirkus UK)
